Out of Steam.

[Engine Serang]

Have we run out of steam?
This site is now reduced to a Jig-Saw emporium and things are similar on our sister site. A recent post there says,

"It's not any particular forum. Participation seems to have dropped significantly. The Gallery offerings have slowed to a crawl. Examples: Engine and Mechanics no post in over a month, like wise Life on Board. Even Members Faces only 10 posts in the last month and I only picked those at random. Marine Casualties was extremely busy, now little or nothing".

Divide and conquer.

[Malcolm G]

SH has a properly working gallery where one can post and interact with others.
The useless unsearchable 'new' gallery on SN is also not user friendly, there is NO interaction - one can leave a comment or correction but nobody ever sees it, it just disappears down a hole.
That part is still very active on SH but, for whatever reason, SH forum has never really taken off despite best efforts of some.
Maybe the site has yet to reach 'critical mass' - Something SN achieved quite soon in its life because it filled a needed space at that time.

[King Ratt]

Originally Posted by Engine Serang

Have we run out of steam?
This site is now reduced to a Jig-Saw emporium and things are similar on our sister site. A recent post there says,

"It's not any particular forum. Participation seems to have dropped significantly. The Gallery offerings have slowed to a crawl. Examples: Engine and Mechanics no post in over a month, like wise Life on Board. Even Members Faces only 10 posts in the last month and I only picked those at random. Marine Casualties was extremely busy, now little or nothing".

Divide and conquer.

I must agree with you ES. I paid off SN some months ago having found it almost unworkable where at one time it was full of banter, information, arguments etc. I joined SH around that time and hoped it would pick up the lines from SN. So many contributors on SN made it a good hours perusal on a wet windy morning. No longer do we have the wonderful poems by BY anymore and some grand arguments that went on for weeks. Hope things improve.

Regards

KR

[SJB]

I miss the ability to leaf back through comments in the gallery, it was what I started with in the old SN.

[YM-Mundrabilla]

Edit: On reflection, what I wrote was a load of rubbish and I have therefore deleted it. It was in the wrong thread apart from anything else to start with.

The only sensible bit (relating to the current COVID-19 threat) is all that now remains:

Stay safe you lot as most of you are probably a lot worse off than we are here in Oz.

Geoff (YM)

[Engine Serang]

Originally Posted by YM-Mundrabilla

Stay safe you lot as most of you are probably a lot worse off than we are here in Oz.

Geoff (YM)

Australia; a land God has blessed with a great diversity of creatures, white sharks, box jellyfish, blue ringed octopus, many snakes, even more spiders, a few salties and koala bears (many smoke damaged).
Add to this abundance; drought, floods, bush fires, didgeridoos, Paul Hogan, £10 Poms and you think you are better off than us in Europe!!!

We in Dublin today are expecting sunshine and scattered showers and know we will not be poisoned, envenomed or eaten on our morning walk.
Worse off my ar$e. Put that in your 4-6-2 and steam up to Alice Springs.

[Harry Nicholson]

It is quiet. But we are grown long in tooth - not that I have a full set of teeth these days. Many are gone to Fiddlers Green, we who knew the great days are moving on.
All very sobering, indeed I cannot drink so much these days - not had a proper hangover for years.
But, the veg patch is looking handsome; the leeks are the best ever and not disparaged by her indoors anymore. Meanwhile, I dream and type memories into an Apple. Speaking of apples - the workshop is aromatic with this year's stored crop of cookers. I spend hours in there.
The wife hands me lists of jobs while she knits, watches 'Move to the Country', or works on the jigsaw puzzle. I've only been awake two hours but have already unblocked three sinks - there's success for you: I now own three sinks!

[Engine Serang]

Originally Posted by Harry Nicholson

It is quiet.
Speaking of apples - the workshop is aromatic with this year's stored crop of cookers. I spend hours in there.
The wife hands me lists of jobs

May I respectfully suggest the wife be handed a job. Bake me two apple tarts.
And put one of your sinks in Exchange and Mart.

[Varley]

E-S is being disingenuous. Oz is largely free of belligerent Hibernians?

(How is that? They must have figured mightily on the earliest 'passenger' lists).

[garryNorton]

Coming from Kiwi land I find I am lost with some of the banter, I will stick to the jig saws

[Jolly Jack]

Garry, exactly the reason SH is running out of steam.........

JJ.

[Malcolm G]

Originally Posted by Jolly Jack

Garry, exactly the reason SH is running out of steam.........

JJ.

Exactly....

[Varley]

Please be more Jolly, Jack. One can always bypass chatlines to which one takes objection one can even do so without appearing to import the loud negativity coming over here on SN's lifeboats.

[Makko]

Jigsaws on hold due to ill health! Maybe we should all join in the banter. I do try.........
Rgds.
Kiss of Death
Dave

[SJB]

I think I will agree with Malcolm G in #2. On SN in its heyday there was at least two experts on every theme related to historical shipping, and who could debate and explain and draw others to the subject. Without that "critical mass" postings just drop dead after a day of silence. We have got Tomwart, Tim Webb and Spursnut engaging each other on the subject of war at sea, but we have not got Shipbuilder on models or Stephen Card on Marine art, and a number of others with infectious enthusiasm for a specific subject. I think they will eventually arrive here, or else new fresh and energetic blood will arrive. One problem not easy to overcome in this context is of course that much of the original SN membership is now shared with three websites.

[Greg Hayden]

SN & SH what is the third site?

[Malcolm G]

Originally Posted by Greg Hayden

SN & SH what is the third site?

I think Stein means Sea the Ships... maybe?
As is my understanding it was set up by ex members of SN.
I am not a member but I suppose it would not hurt to go and have a look sometime.

[Engine Serang]

Originally Posted by Greg Hayden

SN & SH what is the third site?

Tony Blair had a Third Way but it tarnished after a few years but I will investigate.

BTW Greg, what was the original colour of your boilersuit?

[Engine Serang]

#10 & 14

The banter on this site can be distilled into a love of Harland & Wolff and a dislike of the Isle of Man. And a sense of adventure when you sign articles on RMS/mv/ss Golden Dreamer II. The ship or "Old Girl" as BillyBoy calls it has a strict and rigid chain of command::; Pay no heed to that, irreverence and irrelevance is the order of the day.
Start posting.

[Malcolm G]

Originally Posted by Engine Serang

BTW Greg, what was the original colour of your boilersuit?

I had one like that, tried to wash it. Discovered that the grease had become part of the structure and had been holding it together.

[Dartskipper]

Originally Posted by SJB

I think I will agree with Malcolm G in #2. On SN in its heyday there was at least two experts on every theme related to historical shipping, and who could debate and explain and draw others to the subject. Without that "critical mass" postings just drop dead after a day of silence. We have got Tomwart, Tim Webb and Spursnut engaging each other on the subject of war at sea, but we have not got Shipbuilder on models or Stephen Card on Marine art, and a number of others with infectious enthusiasm for a specific subject. I think they will eventually arrive here, or else new fresh and energetic blood will arrive. One problem not easy to overcome in this context is of course that much of the original SN membership is now shared with three websites.

Stephen was also an expert on ocean towage subjects, something that he could draw on from his own experience.

[Varley]

Faraday preserve me from fresh and energetic blood (also from H&W loving Hibernians). Fresh and congenial, please, but do post.

[Dave McGouldrick]

RE # 20 and falling apart boiler suits.
Anyone remember the old ' Sew Sew' chinese lady who came onboard in Hong Kong looking to do repairs to various bits of clothing?

She was given a very disreputable boiler suit by some sort of Junior or 4th/5th engineer, and he was well impressed with the result.


Please don't take from this that I was a boiler suit wearing person. That didn't come till much later in my career when I had to do things like fix telephones in that hot noisy nasty place down below the waterline.

[Tim Gibbs]

Originally Posted by Malcolm G

I had one like that, tried to wash it. Discovered that the grease had become part of the structure and had been holding it together.

Confirming that; going down below one day for a short river stand by, I threw a couple boiler suits into the top-loading washing machine and added a few scoops of GreaseKiller. Unfortunately, we had some sort of trauma down there and I didn't escape the engine room for at least two hours. Equally unfortunately, the washing machine didn't have a timer and when I eventually returned, my boiler suits were still there but I found four arms and four legs floating around separately.

[Harry Nicholson]

Originally Posted by Engine Serang

May I respectfully suggest the wife be handed a job. Bake me two apple tarts.
And put one of your sinks in Exchange and Mart.

She's out of pastry, and avoiding the shops since the bug has arrived in the village. Even so, she contrived a magnificent lunch today, of a lentil something or other, with homegrown swiss chard alongside, aided by Australian Artan red, and a handsome apple crumble for afters.